The Indiana State sentinel., 1887-04-13
The Special Agent Who Ferreted Out the
Robbers Explains His Methods.

Robbers Explains His Methods
PITTsBURe, April Ito Joseph Rue,
special agent of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
and Detective Gilkerson, of this city, is
due all the credit of running the thieves
down. In an interview with Rue this
afternoon the following account of the in
ception of the robberies, their detection, the
modus operandi Of their execution, etc.,
was CLEANED.
Mr.. Rue said: 1.-TWO years ago we de-
cided to dispense with locks on the cars
and introduced our present system of seals.
The seal is of lead, is about the size OF
five cent piece, and is about one eighth of
an inch in thickness. The wire used in
connection with it is OF one-sixteenth inch
iron wire. There are curls in ii to prevent
its being pulled through the lead seal.
The method OF using it is as follows: The
wire is pushed through the seal, then
through the hasp of the Car door, then
back through the seal again, forming an
unbroken circle. An instrument then is
used in impressing the seals. That il use,
say in Pittsburg, stamps upon the inverse
side the letters By 'Tr, and upon the OBJ
verse side p. st. L. thus indicating that
the car is intact when it enters the
P, G.. and ST. l.. Railroad, bound west.
The two wires are embedded at the same
stroke as the letters are imprinted. This
understood, will give an idea of the in
the officials of the road. Eastern-bOund
trains were not molested. Western-bound
trains have been the sufferers. AS near as
We can estimate it these robberies have
been going on tor two years. at first there
was tlmidity and they only occurred at
long intervals, then daily growing bolder
and more general until just lately every
train was a sufferer. We became cognizant
of the robberies through claims. submitted
by New York to the road, on the strength
of their Western customers allegations of
broken packages both in bulk and In
severalty, the evidence in each case being
positive that the packages were opened in
transit.
1--WE were puzzled long time by the
robberies, as our reports from Western
points showed that the seals we're always
seemingly intact. For a long time we
blamed the extraction of goods upon the
Ioustabouts at piers twenty-seven and
twenty EIGHT in New York and the Dock
street station at Philadelphia, as nearly all
OF our western. bound freight was put in
the cars at either one or the other of these
three places. We employed detectives and
all imaginable devices, and found finally
that our employees at these points were
! above suspicion. As am in charge of all
crookedness on our road east of Pittsburg,
it then became my duty to follow the
robbers up to this city. After a most ex-
haustive search of the entire division of
the Pennsylv ania Railroad up to Pitts
burg, came TO the conclusion that the
robberies were committed west of Pitts
| burg. We then devoted ourselves entirely
to the western division. After two months
work we found that the robberies were
committed between Pittsburg and DenRi-
SOD that out of eighty crews, seventy-ive
we're practicing great scheme of robbery.
We were badly stalled at first by the fact
that the seals on the cars were generally
found intact when the cars reached
! Then commenced a system of espionage
on every mile of siding between here and
Dennison. Day night the watch con-
tinued. Meanwhile, marked and decoy
goods were used. We found that local
freight was generally untouched; that the
robberies were committed on Union Line
shipments. Well and good. One dark
night one of our brightest men stumbled
against the mystery of the seals and the
method by which they were successfully
tampered with. Concealed behind a car,
he saw the freight crew come to Union
Line car. The wire was pulled out of the
seal, the door was thrown open and the
Car entered. In a short time the men
emerged carrying q lot OF plunder.
| They made of to the caboose and the con-
ductor pulled back the door, ran the wire
| through the seal where it had been pulled
out, and with board struck it a ow.
| The wire went back to its place, the blow
united the soft lead again without destroy
| ing the lettering on either side, and the seal
was apparently untouched. / saw one of
/ these, and it was only by the closest
scrutiny that person could detect the
sign of tampering with il. All this made
clear, our course was much easier, the in
/ dividuals of these crews were each traced
down, and ! may say here that so closely
were the stolen goods located that out
| of all the arrests we made last night and
this morning there was not one man bat
had stolen stuff either upon him or in his
! room. Of course you understand that our
methods used in ascertaining all this can
not be made public. Suffice it to say
that we have our hands on every thievish
| employe, and we are within easy reach of
those who are not arrested. When | say
we, I mean, of course, Mr.. Gilkison first, as
to him belongs the exclusive credit of
the rich haul that filed the drag net.
can give q few illustrations OF the spirit
of these employes. In one case, Just lately
the pursuit was so hot that twenty-five
boxes of fine cigars were hastily burned in
| q caboose stove. In another case tip re-
suited in two bolts of fine silk being
thrown from caboose into the MonoDga-
hela River while crossing the Panhandle
bridge. In another instance crew broke
OPCu q CdE anu lOu4Q IL lull VI OIBdDS Ou6
| Of the men was so enraged by finding
nothing of the stealable kind that he
thrust an iron bar into the organ and
ruined it. We thave evidence that a
freight conductor broke into a car,
opened piano and sat and played
| it all night, stopping at midnight to
eat his supper of of the polished
top. The same fellow was humping a
piano in dive last night when captured.
Another brakeman, who lives on Wylie
avenue, stole bolt of cloth, had a suit
made for himself and gave the cloth for
two other suits to two Of his friends. An
other man has become an expert on q
stolen ACCORDION. In all my exp erience OF
twenty-nine years / never saw such taste
for miscellaneous stealing. Everything
except a coffin and a blacksmith's anvil
has been stolen and made use of. Some of
our detectives assured me this morning
that not a man was arrested but had from
half a dozen to a dozen pairs of clean
socks of the finest quality and large as
/ sortment of shirts of all kinds.''